Community News

Grand Canyon, AZ – Grand Canyon National Park fire managers—working with resources from Sedona Fire Department, Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Rocky Mountain National Park, Zion National Park, Saguaro National Park and Kaibab National Forest—completed ignition operations on the Long Jim III Prescribed Fire. Crews will now monitor the unit and mop up any areas along the fire’s perimeter that may threaten the holding line.

All ignitions on the Long Jim III unit have been completed. Due to increasing temperatures, low humidity and windy conditions forecast for the next few days, fire managers have decided to halt any further ignitions. A total of 750 acres were treated. Although total acreage was not as much as fire managers had planned to complete, the acres accomplished met the objectives including improving the defensible space in the wildland/urban interface (WUI) within the South Rim developed area, returning fire to a fire-adapted ecosystem, and reducing fuel loads.

Prescribed fires play an important role in decreasing risks to life, resources, and property. Fire managers carefully plan prescribed fires, initiating them only under environmental conditions that are favorable to assuring firefighter and visitor safety and to achieving the desired objectives. Prescribed fire objectives include reducing accumulations of hazard fuels, maintaining the natural role of fire in a fire-adapted ecosystem, and protection of sensitive natural and cultural resources.